IU physicist Horowitz honored by APS, publisher of leading physics journals, for work as academic reviewer

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The American Physical Society has recognized Indiana University physicist Charles Horowitz with a lifetime award as an Outstanding Referee for his work assessing manuscripts submitted to the society's publications.

APS publishes a series of physics journals which have over time expanded from the original Physical Review, founded in 1893 at Cornell University. Today the society publishes Physical Review Letters, Reviews of Modern Physics and a series of other physics journals that during 2010 received 35,000 scholarly submissions for publication.

IU theoretical physicist Charles Horowitz is among 143 scientists from 22 countries being honored by the American Physical Society for excellence in assessing scholarly manuscripts submitted to the society's publications. During 2010 the society's publications received 35,000 submissions from researchers.

Horowitz, a professor in the College of Arts and Sciences' Physics Department and a researcher in the Nuclear Theory Center at IU Bloomington's Center for Exploration of Energy and Matter, was among 143 physicists recognized from within a group of 45,000 active referees.

In 2008 APS initiated a highly selective award program to recognize scientists that it said have been exceptionally helpful in assessing manuscripts for publication in the APS journals. The basis for selection was the quality, number and timeliness of their reports, without regard for membership in APS, country of origin, or field of research. This year's honorees come from 22 different countries, with large contingents from the U.S., Germany, United Kingdom, Canada and France.

"APS expresses appreciation to all referees, whose efforts in peer review not only keep the standards of the journals at a high level, but in many cases also help authors to improve the quality and readability of their articles -- even those that are not published by APS," said the society's Amy Halsted. "The selection of Outstanding Referees was made based on over two decades of database records on over 50,000 referees, some no longer in active service, who have been called upon to review manuscripts. These referees are to be congratulated and thanked for their outstanding service to the physics community."

Horowitz was named a fellow of APS, considered the pre-eminent organization of physicists in the United States, in 2009 for his contributions to research involving dense nuclear matter. He earned a B.A. from Harvey Mudd College in 1978 and a Ph.D. from Stanford in 1981, then conducted postdoctoral research at Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen. In 2007, while Horowitz was at IU, his work received international attention with the announcement that his research had led to the first-ever modeling of the chemistry of a neutron star.

For more information or to speak with Horowitz, please contact Steve Chaplin, University Communications, at 812-856-1896 or stjchap@indiana.edu.